I suppose I should not have been shocked. The spin from her publicists was that Carrie Fisher had once been a hell raiser but had now been clean for years. I think she once admitted that during the filming of Star Wars she was taking so much coke that she barely knew which day of the week it was. Well I guess we now know that the "now clean" line was just spin. The autopsy shows that Fisher had traces of coke, heroin and ecstasy in her body when she died aged 60 just before Christmas.
Hollywood spin is all lies. That should not be a shock to me. It is a sad old end for any human and, as a Star Wars groupie, I see it as a miserable end to a career seemingly on the point of relaunch.
As a libertarian I take the view that what folks want to put into their own bodies is their business as long as they do not harm others as a result. Taking drugs is essentially what Mill called a "self regarding action." As is smoking, drinking vast amounts, eating 6000 calories a day or having vast amounts of unprotected anal sex. All such actions carry clear health risks but its your choice not that of the State. Government should not decide what is allowed and what is not.
The liberal left do not understand this and thus persecute smokers of tobacco and fat people while campaigning for pot to be legalised. We libertarians are at least consistent. There would be far fewer dead drug users today were it legalised, were folks not forced into prostitution and crime to pay the sky high prices prohibition brings, were they not pushed into sharing dirty needles. The libertarian case for treating drugs like cigarettes is a very strong one - more tax for the State, far less crime, fewer deaths.
But it must come with an acceptance that certain lifestyle choices are better for you if you want to grow old than others. Lettuce is a better bet than ice cream, breakfast porridge a better bet than cocoa pops, and orange juice is better for you than heroin. It is the individuals choice but if, like Carrie Fisher, you are overweight and then ram charlie up your nose while chasing the dragon and popping pills just accept that you may not make it to retirement age.